2000 campaign video shows McCain highlighting time in Vietnam, despite his -- and media's -- false denials that he did so*

Summary: Media outlets have either falsely suggested or asserted outright that Sen. John McCain has avoided references to his time in Vietnam in his prior political campaigns. In fact, McCain's own 2000 presidential campaign released a biographical video of McCain, which prominently features McCain's war experience.

In recent weeks, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, various media outlets have either falsely suggested or asserted outright that Sen. John McCain has avoided references to his time in Vietnam in his prior political campaigns. In fact, McCain repeatedly highlighted his service in Vietnam during his failed 2000 presidential bid, as numerous news reports from the time show. Indeed, McCain's own 2000 presidential campaign released a biographical video of McCain, which prominently features McCain's time in the Navy during Vietnam. McCain himself appears in the video and discusses, among other things, the "[t]hree keys to a successful survivor in a prison camp, a situation such as I and my friends were in." Moreover, in 2004, McCain reportedly said that he had advised Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) not to talk about his military service and falsely claimed that "I didn't talk about" Vietnam because, he said, "I didn't need to."

The video, which also covers McCain's family military history, goes on to discuss McCain's release from the prison camp, his return to the U.S. from Vietnam, and the remainder of his Navy career. At the end of the video, a disclaimer notes that the advertisement was "Paid for by McCain 2000, Inc."

—J.M.

*Editor's Note: The headline previously read "2000 campaign video shows McCain hyping time in Vietnam, despite his -- and media's -- false claims to the contrary." As some readers have pointed out, "hyping" can have a pejorative meaning, which we did not intend.